Review of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) by Zac L — 29 Aug 2010

Add a review...The novel that earned Harper Lee the 1961 Pulitizer Prize for Literature,becomes one of the greatest American films ever made. "To Kill A Mockingbird" stands out as one as the apex of 1960's cinema and it shows this in fine detail. Based on the 1960 novel of the same title,it is the story of widowed attorney and legislator Atticus Finch(played brilliantly to perfection by the great Gregory Peck,who won the 1962 Oscar for Best Actor)who must defend Tom Robinson(Brock Peters),an African-American falsely accused of rape and assault. The story is set in fictional 1930's Maycomb County,Alabama,during the time of segregation and during the era of the Jim Crow South,where blacks endure pure hell and suffering within the deep South,especially in Alabama was "hell on earth.".

Atticus has no illusions about the struggle he takes on. He tells his son Jem.

(Phillip Alford),"In our courts,when it's a white man's word against a black man's,the white man always wins. They're ugly,but those are the facts of life." Atticus takes the case anyway,because "if I didn't I couldn't hold up my head in town," he tells his daughter Scout(Mary Badham who gives one of the most electrifying performances ever from a child actor). Atticus,with the help of Calpurnia,an African-American,is raising his son Jem and his daughter Scout. The story is told through the eyes of Scout(and also from the narration by actress Kim Hunter)who gives the audiences observations not only about race relations,but Southern notions of decorum and class distinctions. The trial of Tom Robinson and its consequences become the central events in the film while its gives us a grand perspective of young Scout's growing and understanding of the adult world,especially in the time of the violence and hatred in the Jim Crow South of the 1930's. Directed by Robert Mulligan and Produced by Alan J. Pakula,this movie was one of the biggest boxoffice hits of 1962,it which won two Academy Awards..one for Best Actor Oscar to Gregory Peck,and the other won for Horton Foote,the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It has become a staple in movie history not only for the riveting storyline,but for also film composer Elmer Bernstein's Oscar-nominated theme score. Suggusted For Mature Audiences.